The types of images in Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar's poems

This study aims to classify images seen in Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar's poems. The concept of "image" is frequently used both in daily life and in literature. While the impressions left on our senses are an image type based on objective reality, the images used in literature are products of fiction. Poets use various types of images to make the theme that they wish to express more explicit. Images pertaining to the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are used as much in poetry as in daily life. However, because poetry is an art form, it employs additional types of images. In many poems, we encounter images that we may find difficult to visualize. Some poems emphasize objects while some others actions. Thus, "mental", "objective" and "kinetic" images appear. When we study Tanpınar's poems in detail, we see that the poet uses "visual", "mental", "auditory" and "kinetic" images frequently. We believe that these image types constitute the backbone of Tanpınar's understanding of pure poetry. The poet objectivizes the themes of "dream", "time" and "music" by using these images; he makes it possible for the reader to experience via images the meaning that originates from these themes. In this way, Tanpınar's poems gain a dynamic structure and discrete images move to the foreground, as an alternative to a prose-like style that is completely faithful to rules of syntax. This style of poetry laden with images makes the meaning in Tanpınar's poems more ambiguous and we believe that this style is precisely the foundation of his understanding of pure poetry. Key words: objective image, visual image, auditory image, mental image, kinetic image,dream, time, music